Her mouth falls open.
I take a sip of champagne because there is no graceful way to recover. “Trust me, it took me by surprise too, but we just… fit. We get along so amazingly.”
My gaze drifts back to Brody, where he laughs at something Corey says, then glances over as if he feels me looking. His smile finds me across the room, and he blows me a kiss.
For a second, I let myself remember his hand at my jaw, the way he kissed me. But underneath it all, the truth gnaws quietly.
This is fake.
But I shove that thought down deep, where it can’t reach my face.
Ivy follows my gaze. “Well,” she says after a moment, “if you’re going to shock the family, at least you did it properly, right?”
I snort into my glass. “That’s your supportive-sister response?”
“Yep.” She grins. “So how in the world did you meet them?”
“At a farmers’ market,” Brody blurts out from behind me, stealing my answer. “Plus, we’re now neighbors, as we moved in next door to her.”
His hands settle at my waist before I can turn, and my thoughts immediately scatter in several unhelpful directions. He draws me back against his chest just enough to sell the intimacy,his chin dipping near my temple as if this is a story we have told together a hundred times.
Then he launches into the wild avocado-and-sourdough-starter story he told me he’d use. Corey and Jakob nod along, which tells me this is almost certainly the version they gave my father too.
By the time Brody finishes, Ivy’s laughing. “That is the most ridiculous first encounter I’ve ever heard of, but I love it so much.”
Brody grins. “We survived.”
Mom suddenly calls Ivy over to meet someone near the bar. Dad follows a moment later, leaving me alone with the three Alphas, so I turn to them.
“What took so long? What did you say to my dad?” I gasp.
“Your father’s thorough.” Corey’s eyes brighten, but he has the decency to keep his voice low.
“That’s not an answer.”
Jakob leans one elbow against the tall table we’re standing around, close enough that his arm brushes mine. “He wanted to know whether you were comfortable with us here.”
The tightness in my chest shifts. “He asked that?”
“He did,” Jakob says, and I’m glued to the spot, staring at him. I don’t really know the guy, yet here I am drooling over him. “Several different ways.”
I blink at him. “And?”
“I told him we’re here to make sure you enjoy tonight,” Jakob says, his gaze steady on mine. “Not to make it harder.”
The answer should calm me, but for one dangerous second, I forget there are people everywhere, that this is supposed to be pretend, and that I’m standing at a wedding reception whispering with three Alphas I barely know and somehow want much too badly.
Brody’s mouth curves as if he can see every single thought I’m trying to murder. “I told him you’re the most interesting woman I’ve met in a long time.”
My face heats. “You did not.”
“Meant every word.” His voice drops, private beneath the music.
Corey shifts closer on my other side, not crowding me, but near enough that the warmth of him catches at my nerves. “I told him you’re bossy under pressure, which I respect, and that I’m grateful your eyesight failed in my direction.”
I stare at him.
He smiles unapologetically. “He appreciated the honesty.”
